I can't defend Pitt here. We had a pathetic effort all the way around. Fumbles, penalties, and our 3rd Down Defense was horrid... Not only did we lose to an 1AA team. We got our asses kicked.

PATHETIC

Yep. We got killed out there tonight and it was really unacceptable. Not much else we can say.

No offense to Pitt (I actually root for Pitt except when they (will) play Miami), but that actually doesn't make me feel so bad about MT's loss to McNeese State... FCS losses - quite frankly - suck. And it looks like the FCS is getting stronger...

Some may disagree, but it looks like all of Wanny's uneven recruiting plus Steve Pedersen's dumb ass coaching hires last year is catching up with this program. If we're lucky, Chryst and this current coaching staff will be able to flush out the crap, i.e. poor discipline, lack of fundamentals, inferior talent and the overall attitude of this current roster. I am no longer bemoaning the crap schedule Pitt had set up for this season. I now consider it a God Send because Pitt will need this entire season to figure out how to become a real football program again.

My Pitt to the Orange bowl prediction is not looking so good any more.

Can't wait until they get in the conference for some great and exciting football games. They have won 8 titles in 1937 or before so they are an awesome add now. Once they beat the FCS schools, they can continue their rapid move up in the ACC.

How much if any did having Cincy scheduled for Thursday affect Pitt's preparations for the opener?

(09-02-2012 04:19 PM)4x4hokies Wrote:  How much if any did having Cincy scheduled for Thursday affect Pitt's preparations for the opener?

Unsure how that had anything to do with it.

Miko's analysis summed everything up in a nutshell.

(09-02-2012 04:29 PM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  

(09-02-2012 04:19 PM)4x4hokies Wrote:  How much if any did having Cincy scheduled for Thursday affect Pitt's preparations for the opener?

Unsure how that had anything to do with it.

Miko's analysis summed everything up in a nutshell.

Ok, I was just wondering if there was a "looking forward" attitude in practices and player attitudes that can happen when you have a big opponent early. Sometimes teams can take for granted the nobody they play beforehand.

These things happen. It happened to Michigan a couple years ago. Hopefully, things can get sorted out before too long. Who do you think will end with a better record Pittsburgh or Penn State? I am betting Pittsburgh will have more wins than Penn State.

I didn't see the game live, but I did go back and watch it with a critical eye afterwards. Our defense, especially the LB didn't seem to be real sure about what their assignments were. They did an especially poor job to staying in their areas which lead to some big plays. They also didn't seem to be filling the lanes very effectively. If we didn't have 2 DL who got suspended, the team might have been fresher in the 4th quarter. The other big issue I saw was missed tackles. If they make half of the missed tackles, we probably win the game.

On offense, Graham is still moving tentatively and Jacobson doesn't seem to be back from his injury completely either. Tino was Tino, which is to say he ran hot and cold. His next completed pass with any air under it will still be his first. He made enough plays to keep drives alive, but he and the receivers were on different page way too many times. His timing throws were decent and he got the ball out quickly, which with this OL is going to be a critical skill. The TD throw to Brinson was a good looking play, but again he threw it on a line, which he can do fairly well. I think Shell will see some real time come Thursday night. If they can swing it, I'd like to see Graham in limited action. We will need him against VT. Street played poorly IMHO. Dropping balls and taking a dumb penalty. We need more from him at this point. Saddler had a good game and looked very good on the punt returns.

Thursday will tell a lot about this team. I think if they cut down on the mistakes, penalties, and improve their execution, they can make a game of it. If we play like we did Saturday night, we are going to get rolled.

Sent from my Toshiba Thrive using Tapatalk2.

(09-02-2012 11:36 PM)tj_2009 Wrote:  These things happen. It happened to Michigan a couple years ago. Hopefully, things can get sorted out before too long. Who do you think will end with a better record Pittsburgh or Penn State? I am betting Pittsburgh will have more wins than Penn State.

It's really hard to say right now. Penn State isn't deep but they have pretty good top end talent at key positions. Pitt doesn't have the talent right now. They need to play very good fundamental football to win games moving forward.

The only real solace that I think can be taken in comparing the two programs this week is that this is going to be Penn State's best team for the next four years. They're in a hole right now that's so deep they can't even see the light at the end of the tunnel. Pitt is coming off a string of coaching changes which hurts right now but should improve year by year. I think Chryst is the right guy for this job but we're going to have to deal with the growing pains that come with a new coach AND the lack of talent left behind from previous regimes AND the changes being made.

(09-02-2012 01:47 AM)miko33 Wrote:  Some may disagree, but it looks like all of Wanny's uneven recruiting plus Steve Pedersen's dumb ass coaching hires last year is catching up with this program. If we're lucky, Chryst and this current coaching staff will be able to flush out the crap, i.e. poor discipline, lack of fundamentals, inferior talent and the overall attitude of this current roster. I am no longer bemoaning the crap schedule Pitt had set up for this season. I now consider it a God Send because Pitt will need this entire season to figure out how to become a real football program again.

If things are that bad at Pitt I would just play the underclassmen to prepare for the future. However, I'd wait a few weeks before hitting the panic button though. Other wise other schools like Penn St, Colorado, California, and Houston will be doing the same thing if things were that bleak after one game. Oops Houston just panicked and fired the Offensive Co-Ordinator. Hang in there Miko - don't panic yet.

The thing about college football is that you don't want to just play underclass men like that because you owe it to the seniors to let them play and maybe make a bowl game too. It's a good thought but not always feasible.

It was a bad game but I don't think it's panic time yet.

(09-03-2012 02:28 PM)ndlutz Wrote:  The thing about college football is that you don't want to just play underclass men like that because you owe it to the seniors to let them play and maybe make a bowl game too. It's a good thought but not always feasible.

It was a bad game but I don't think it's panic time yet.

Pitt shouldn't panic yet. Honestly, IMO this is the season where Pitt will have to get a lot of things worked out for 2013. It was too much to expect great things this season due to the misfires in recruiting and coaching changes. I used to look at this schedule for 2012 and thought how awful it looked. Now, I'm grateful that Pitt has a ho hum schedule so that it can concentrate on fixing its problems.

On the bright side...you can only count one FCS team towards bowl eligibility...that obviously won't be Youngstown now.

Win the 3 games against the BE and you are in the BCS regardless.